Zechariah Sees an Angel (The Rest of the Story)
By
James Scott Trimm
We read in the book of Luke, an account of Z’kharyah’s (Zechariah’s) vision of the angel Gavri’el (Gabriel)
5 There was, in the days of Herod, the king of Y’hudah, one Cohen who was named Z’kharyah, from the division of the house of Aviyah: and his wife from the daughters of Aharon, whose name was Elisheva.
6 And both of them were righteous before Eloah, and were walking in all His commandments, and in the righteousness of YHWH; without blame in all their ways.
7 But they had no son because Elisheva was barren, and both of them advanced in days.
8 And it happened (that) while he was serving as Cohen in the order of his service before Eloah,
9 In the custom of the priesthood, it came that he was to place the incense. And he entered the Temple ,
10 And all the crowd of people were standing and praying outside, at the time of incense.
11 And an angel of YHWH, who stood at the right side of the altar of incense, appeared to Z’kharyah.
12 And he was agitated: and trembled when he saw the angel, and fear fell upon him.
13 And the angel said to him, Do not fear, Z’kharyah, because Eloah has heard the sound of your prayer. And your wife, Elisheva, will bear to you a son, and you will call his name Yochanan,
14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice in his birth.
15 For he will be great before YHWH, and will not drink wine or strong drink. And he will be filled with the Ruach HaKodesh, while he is in the womb of his mother.
16 And he will turn many of the sons of Yisrael, to YHWH their Eloah.
17 And he will go before Him, in the spirit, and in the might of Eliyahu, the prophet: that he might turn the heart of the fathers unto the children, and those who are disobedient, to the knowledge of the just. And he will prepare for YHWH a wholehearted people.
18 And Z’kharyah said to the angel, How will I know this? For I am old and my wife is advanced in age.
19 And the angel answered and said to him, I am Gavri’el, because I stand before Eloah: and I have been sent to speak with you, and to declare these (things).
20 Now you will be dumb and not able to speak, until the day that these (things) occur, because you did not believe my words that will be fulfilled in their season.
21 Now the people were standing and waiting for Z’kharyah, and they wondered about his delay in the Temple.
22 And when Z’kharyah came out, he was not able to speak with them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the Temple. And he anxiously made signs to them, but remained dumb.
23 And after the days of his service were fulfilled, he went to his house.
(Luke 1:5-23 HRV)
There are so many misconceptions about this event. First of all, Z’kharyah was not the High Priest, because all of the High Priests were supposed to be descendants of the High Priest in King David’s time (Zadok), and because Z’kharyah was serving in the course of Abijah. Moreover, the High Priests of this time were all pretenders who had purchased the office from the Romans, we know the names of all the High Priests in this time, and Z’kharyah was not one of them. The misunderstanding that Z’kharyah was performing the Yom Kippur incense offering has led to the false belief that he was the High Priest (which is why so many artistic representations of the event, show him in the garb of the High Priest) has led to a false teaching that Yochanan, as his son, was the true High Priest.
This event, was in fact, the daily incense offering. made in the Temple by a priest chosen by drawing of lots.
What Luke calls the “customs” of the Priesthood, are traditions of the Oral Law in regards to the Temple ceremonies.
In this case the Mishna gives us some great insight into these events. The Priesthood served in 24 courses, the course of Abijah was the 8th (1Chron. 24). It was such an honor to offer the incense that only the priests who had never performed the ritual were allowed to particulate in the drawing of lots, so that a priest was only afforded this honor once in his lifetime (m.Tamid 5:2).
The people “were standing and praying outside” (Luke 1:10) because “the people departed” (m.Tamid 6:3) before the incense was offered, leaving the priest performing the ritual alone in the holy place.
The angel appeared on the right side of the alter of incense (Luke 1:11) This would have been the south side of the alter between the alter itself and the gold menorah.
After making the offering Z’kharyah would have “prostrated himself and went out” (m.Tamid 6:3) where he was to have “stood on the steps of the porch” (m.Tamid 7:2) these were the fifteen steps, where he would have “said one blessing for the people” (m.Tamid 7:2) meaning that he was to have the honor of pronouncing the Aaronic blessing (Numbers 6:24-26). It is then that the people would have realized that something had happened, as Zechariah could not speak.
Why was he troubled? Why did fear fall upon him when the angel appeared? On the contrary one might expect him to be overjoyed to see an angel in the Temple. Some background to this story gives the account much more meaning. Pharisees and Sadducees differed as to how they believed the incense offering was to be made. Sadducees controlled the priesthood and the Temple (because most priests were Sadducees) but Pharisees were the majority and thus controlled the people and the courts. According to the Mishna (m.Yoma 1:5) the Pharisees would use the power of the Rabbinical courts to require the priests to agree to perform the Temple services according to the traditional method handed down by the elders and not to alter it based on Sadducee understandings and interpretations by bringing the incense into the Holy of Holies. All of this was needed because a Sadducee Priest had once taken it upon himself to alter the service of incense offering to follow the method of the Sadducees, who rejected the Oral Law. As we read in the Talmud:
HE TURNED ASIDE AND WEPT AND THEY TURNED ASIDE AND WEPT. He turned aside and wept because they suspected him of being a Sadducee, and they turned aside and wept, for R. Joshua b. Levi said: Whosoever suspects good folks will suffer [for it] on his own body. Why was all this [solemn adjuration] necessary? Lest he arrange the incense outside and thus bring it in, in the manner of the Sadducees.
Our Rabbis taught: There was a Sadducee who had arranged the incense without, and then brought it inside. As he left he was exceedingly glad. On his coming out his father met him and said to him: My son, although we are Sadducees, we are afraid of the Pharisees. He replied: All my life was I aggrieved because of this scriptural verse: For I appear in the cloud upon the ark-cover. I would say: When shall the opportunity come to my hand so that I might fulfil it. Now that such opportunity has come to my hand, should I not have fulfilled it? It is reported that it took only a few days until he died and was thrown on the dung heap and worms came forth from his nose. Some say: He was smitten as he came out [of the Holy of Holies]. For R. Hiyya taught: Some sort of a noise was heard in the Temple Court, for an angel had come and struck him down on his face [to the ground] and his brethren the priests came in and they found the trace as of a calf’s foot on his shoulder, as it is written: And their feet were straight feet, and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot.
(b.Yoma 19b)
And this is why Z’kharyah was troubled and fearful when the angel appeared to him in the Temple after he had offered incense. Z’kharyah was almost certainly aware of this story and thus must have been worried that he had somehow offered the incense incorrectly and that the angel had appeared in order to strike him down. The angel was aware of this and immediately told Z’kharyah “Fear not…”.
I is also significant that Z’kharyah, whom Scripture says was “righteous before Eloah” (Luke 1:6) was participating in all of these practices of the Oral Law, in fulfilling his duties in his course, serving as a priest in the Temple!
So as Paul Harvey would have said, now you know the rest of the story!
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